Facebook throws users a bone with easier-to-use privacy controls

The changes are useful, but relatively minor and may still leave users wanting.

Facebook is adding a number of UI updates to its site that are aimed at making privacy management more obvious and usable. The social network announced the updates on Wednesday morning, adding that it's also planning some new "in-product education" tools in order to better instruct users on how to use the updated tools. Among the changes are easier-to-find controls to limit who can contact you or see your posts, more granular app permissions, and an updated removal tool that should make it easier for people to take action on photos they've been tagged in. According to Facebook, the changes "will begin rolling out at the end of 2012."

In addition, Facebook is (finally!) splitting up the permissions requests when giving new apps access to your Facebook profile. In the past, such an action would result in you giving permission for an app to access your information and post on your behalf simultaneously—not such a favorable option for people who just want to be able to use the app, but not allow it to post (I'm looking at you, Spotify). But with the new updates, Facebook is splitting those actions into separate permissions requests: one for access to the relevant info, and one for posting on your behalf.

The above two dialogs used to be merged into one, but now you have more granular controls over app posting and access.

Now, you can choose to allow certain apps to see your public info while still restricting them from telling your whole family about that 2Chainz album you just listened to for two weeks straight.

Another change is the placement of Facebook's main controls for managing who can see your posts, who can contact you, and how to stop them from contacting you. Previously, these settings were found under Facebook's sometimes-confusing privacy control panel, which suffered from being both hard to discover and a distraction from whatever else you were doing on Facebook. The company is shifting these settings to a direct shortcut found in the top toolbar on Facebook's site.

Perhaps even more importantly—at least to those of us who have friends and family who love tagging embarrassing photos with us in them—is the revamp of the "Activity Log." For those unfamiliar, the Activity Log is Facebook's more straightforward, timeline-based view that allows you to see everything you or others have posted to your wall; you can see it by going to your own profile and clicking the Activity Log button near the top next to the Update Info button.

Part of this revamp includes a new request and removal tool for when you want those tagged photos to disappear. By going to the "Photos of You" tab, you can now select multiple photos (instead of one at a time) and request that your friends remove the photos en masse. The benefit of doing this, as opposed to simply removing them from your own timeline, is that your friends will hopefully respect your formal request and remove the photo (or photos) from all public view—not just your timeline. As Facebook describes it, "The tool also lets you untag multiple photos at once, keeping in mind that while untagged photos don’t appear on your timeline, they can still appear in other places on Facebook, such as search, news feed, or your friends’ timelines."

The changes are both relatively minor and very useful to regular Facebook users, many of which are still blissfully unaware of the kind of privacy controls that are buried deep within the site. The company didn't significantly change the level of control a user has over his or her data (aside from the app permissions, which are a huge step forward), but making the privacy tools easier to find and use is still an improvement from what was previously available.

Still, the changes may be seen by some as a move to assuage users who are still upset over the removal of Facebook's privacy policy voting system. As we wrote on Monday, Facebook's last user vote closed with only 0.067 of a percent of user participation. This allows Facebook the freedom to enact future privacy policies without considering the user vote as a necessary step in the process, leaving an (admittedly small) group of users with doubts about Facebook's commitment to its user base. Critics have pointed out that Facebook didn't do nearly enough to make its billion active users aware of the vote to begin with, which has also raised concerns about Facebook's intentions when it comes to user privacy.

Wake me when that control can block automated silent sharing with data aggregators and governmental agencies.

I'm more concerned about sheriffs showing up to force entry into my home and involuntarily commit me for posting rap lyrics than I am about my aunt seeing what I post. (Google Brandon Raub for an example)

Slightly relevant: What do other Arsians use Facebook for? I ask because I can't see any reason to use it.

I liked MySpace back in 2006-2007, but got sick of it, plus everyone moved to Facebook. I didn't like it and it was too "intuitive" for me to use the way I want so I deleted my profile.

Edit to add: Stuff like this makes me feel very glad I did, too.

I am 32 and went back to uni 2 years ago.I mainly use facebook as a way for me and my classmates to exchange documents and lessons about what we study and to share misc information about the uni (parties, sport evnets, concerts, etc..)

I also use facebook to keep in touch with foreign friends that live in different EU countries than mine.

I used to be really doubtful about facebook and didnt use it until mid 2010.

But now I can see that it can be a useful tool, especially given that most of my classmates are in their early 20s and spend so much time on facebook

Every time they change up these settings I have to go back in and manage my settings. In the past these changes have overwritten privacy options from before and made content public or available to audiences I would not have originally included. So I guess it's time to start sweeping my settings again to make sure things are the way I want them to be.

I am really glad they added the granular permissions for apps. That's prevented me from using certain apps in the past.

Slightly relevant: What do other Arsians use Facebook for? I ask because I can't see any reason to use it.

I use it mainly to keep in contact with people who I'm friendly enough to want to know what they are up to, but not friendly enough to go for beer, call, email directly or drive several hundred miles to visit.

Don't know if it's true, but I read they also made a change such that you can no longer opt out of being findable via search. If so, this would fit the pattern: no change in privacy settings on Facebook comes without the loss of some kind of privacy.

I know we all like to hate Facebook. But every other company is selling our souls as well. I find facebook to be a really good way to stay in touch with old friends and communicate quickly with my friends and family.

So many things Facebook does are drenched in slime. Hell, I can't even select the brain-dead obvious option to display posts in the order they were created without Facebook constantly deciding I didn't want that, and hiding the fact that it changed my settings for me. That, and the multiple policy changes that took place so that Facebook could change my privacy settings for me to ones of their liking, hide that this took place, and make it less than intuitive how to find them at all.

That said, I do use it. Or should say, have it. Everyone's there, and it does let me hear from more people than I'd be directly corresponding with.